Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley took a swipe at the National Rifle Association on Friday, publishing a blog post on OMalleys state Web site titled The NRA: Drowning out Marylanders.

The governors move comes two days after gun-rights advocates swamped the first bill hearing on OMalleys proposed gun-control legislation in the wake of the December mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Over 700 people, the vast majority opposed to OMalleys plan, signed up to testify outside the Annapolis hearing room on Wednesday. Another 300 signed petitions against the bill at a rally outside the State House.

OMalley has proposed an assault-weapons ban and new licensing rules that would require gun purchasers to submit to digital fingerprinting. His bill would also seek to enhance school security and expand the number of categories of mental-health problems that can preclude state residents from owning guns.

On Friday, the blog post written by Zoe Pagonis, a staffer in the governors office, suggested that the show of force on Wednesday was misleading.

The majority of Marylanders, including many responsible gun owners, support common sense legislation to prevent gun violence, Pagonis wrote. But the PR wing of the NRA, lobbyists for gun manufacturers, and others who want to block any and all gun safety ideas would have you to believe otherwise. For weeks, theyve been spreading falsehoods and using scare tactics to mislead Marylanders.

Surprise, surprise. It looks like the gun control slam dunk is not a sure thing after all. At the grassroots gun-owning Marylanders are really, really motivated. I think a lot of formerly indifferent people have had the scales removed from their eyes.

RE :”Over 700 people, the vast majority opposed to OMalleys plan, signed up to testify outside the Annapolis hearing room on Wednesday. Another 300 signed petitions against the bill at a rally outside the State House. OMalley has proposed an assault-weapons ban and new licensing rules that would require gun purchasers to submit to digital fingerprinting. His bill would also seek to enhance school security and expand the number of categories of mental-health problems that can preclude state residents from owning guns. On Friday, the blog post written by Zoe Pagonis, a staffer in the governors office, suggested that the show of force on Wednesday was misleading. The majority of Marylanders, including many responsible gun owners, support common sense legislation to prevent gun violence, Pagonis wrote. But the PR wing of the NRA, lobbyists for gun manufacturers, and others who want to block any and all gun safety ideas would have you to believe otherwise. For weeks, theyve been spreading falsehoods and using scare tactics to mislead Marylanders.

Has O Malley been stopped on anything since taking office? We might as well have a dictatorship here.

I will give the NRA credit, they sent me a card warning about this calling to action.

14
posted on 02/11/2013 7:55:28 AM PST
by sickoflibs
(Losing to Dems and Obama is not a principle! Its just losing.)

The left just points to the NRA because it saves them from explaining a direct attack on the voters.

The NRA needs to counter this with ads from bygone years that illustrate that the NRA is not some corporation with a hand full of board members going along with some central figure CEO... the growth and power of the NRA is We, The People.

Bring back the ads of well known people, of crowds, all saying with one voice,I AM THE NRA!

The tactics by the Dems in this are pure Alinksy: pick a target (NRA), freeze it, personalize it and polarize it.

What we’re seeing now is a situation where Alinsky isn’t working. There are too many gun rights supporters out there and there’s an increasing level of desperation by Dems who see their tactics failing.

What the NRA leadership did on this was beautiful. It looks like they set themselves up to be targeted in order to provoke a massive overreach by the Left. By intent or not, it seems to be working ...

NRA is not spearheading the “resistance”, look at any retail store that sells guns &/or ammo. The shelves are empty. Hmmm! Wonder why that happened. There is no way that the NRA could force people to do that. The citizens are afraid, angry and tired of lying POS POLs blowing smoke.

I am still waiting for any of these asshats to ‘spalin just exactly how any of this garbage they are throwing against the wall is going to stop one single criminal act. Short answer: there ain’t no ‘splainin it. Just the usual radical left wing extremist demokkkrat attempt to be “honorable” by doing something even if it does nothing. It isn’t be bill of needs you fookin’ idjits.

I did have the opportunity to pick up a “pre-ban” Colt AR the other day. I didn’t but was shocked that there was actually one available for purchase. Other than that, they are few and far between as is ammo for just about anything from .22 all the way up to actual high powered ammo. You know, bigger than .223. The box stores here (Cabelas and Scheels) and all the mom and pop stores don’t have any AR platforms at all. Even the dedicated .22 practice ones. Dusty shelves everywhere. Bolts and levers available (not a bad idea at all) and shotguns (a good idea too).

Molon labe.

25
posted on 02/11/2013 8:47:58 AM PST
by rktman
(Live the oath you took or get out of office!)

I am still waiting for any of these asshats to ‘splain just exactly how any of this garbage they are throwing against the wall is going to stop one single criminal act. Short answer: there ain’t no ‘splainin it. Just the usual radical left wing extremist demokkkrat attempt to be “honorable” by doing something even if it does nothing. It isn’t be bill of needs you fookin’ idjits.

I did have the opportunity to pick up a “pre-ban” Colt AR the other day. I didn’t but was shocked that there was actually one available for purchase. Other than that, they are few and far between as is ammo for just about anything from .22 all the way up to actual high powered ammo. You know, bigger than .223. The box stores here (Cabelas and Scheels) and all the mom and pop stores don’t have any AR platforms at all. Even the dedicated .22 practice ones. Dusty shelves everywhere. Bolts and levers available (not a bad idea at all) and shotguns (a good idea too).

Molon labe.

26
posted on 02/11/2013 8:48:50 AM PST
by rktman
(Live the oath you took or get out of office!)

The Compost grossly under-reported the numbers. I was there. There were conservatively 2000 standing in line to register to testify before the rally. Traffic was backed up onto the freeway. Veteran legislators and aides said they had never seen such a response. So what if NRA robocalled. I’d be upset if they didn’t.

35
posted on 02/11/2013 9:23:14 AM PST
by cyclotic
(In a society of wolves, you do not fight back by creating more sheep-Dan Bongino)

Not saying it was the case with you, but having recently moved to MD I was shocked at the level of trust that local gunowners formerly afforded the Democrats. There was wink-and-nudge talk in the gunshop about how thus-and-so donk politician or police official was secretly “on our side” and how the gun control talk in the platform was just rah-rah for the lib base. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

I lost faith in MD government when Governor Schaeffer shut down Medivac service to force the legislature to pass his "snack tax" (but somehow the chopper was still available to transport his concubine Hilda Mae Snoops when she got sick). I suppose it was rotten to the core before then, but that was the first I was aware of it.

But the difference in this state after being away for a decade and a half is bewildering and discouraging. It seems like literally everyone is lining up for handouts and begging the govenment to do this or that. Doesn't anyone have any pride in themselves anymore?

Geeeeez. I wouldn’t line my cat’s litterbox with this liberal media dreck. For one thing, I believed they way undercounted the number of people who signed up to testify AND the number of people attending the rally. The probably just stripped the 1’s from “1700” and “1300.”

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.